Brand Rajini

Rajinikanth's devoted and highly enterprising wife Latha Rangachari is said to be behind the carefully built brand Rajini.

Industry insiders reveal that although the Superstar had never lent his name to products and campaigns, it was Latha who leveraged his image by roping in advertisers like Pepsi, Hindustan Lever, India Cements and Asian Paints for in-film promotion.

Smoking skills

Famous for flipping a cigarette and catching it in his lips in many of his blockbuster films, Rajinikanth quit smoking and urged his fans to do so too after he suffered from smoking-related health issues.

The living legend subsequently decided to refrain from smoking on screen too.

The moniker that stuck

K Balachander, who gave Rajini his first acting break, christened him Rajinikanth because there could be only one 'Sivaji' (as we all know, Rajini's original name is Shivaji Rao Gaekwad) in the south Indian film industry and that was the senior actor Sivaji Ganesan.

The name literally means 'colour of night'; it was a comment on the colour of Shivaji Rao's skin.